TRANSCRIPT EP. 134 | The Scorpio Quarter Moon Merry-Go-Round (Aug. 1, 2022)
Listen and read the show notes hereWelcome to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast, with your host, Astrologer and Author, April Elliott Kent.
April: Hello, invisible friend, April here, and the date today is August 1st, 2022. Welcome to Episode 134 of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. This week, Mars officially joins up with Uranus at the Moon’s North Node, and Venus is right behind with some opportunities. Mercury enters Virgo, a First Quarter Moon in Scorpio, Venus trines Neptune, and Mars squares Saturn. Plus, I answer a listener question about how to prioritize transits
Mars conjoins Uranus and the North Node (August 1, 4:53 pm and 11:05 am PDT)
To begin the week, Mars makes a conjunction with the North Node on August 1st at 11:05 AM Pacific Time, and then it makes its conjunction with Uranus that same day at 4:53 PM Pacific Time. We talked about this last week, as Uranus was making the conjunction to the North Node, and now they will all be cuddled up closely together there in the 18th degree of Taurus. And, as we spoke about last week, the Sabian symbol for this degree is 19 Taurus, “A Newly Formed Continent.”
I’m really hoping that I didn’t add to the general alarmist tone that I’ve been hearing around this combination. I think that, if we take the long view of this moment in time, we will be able to put a lot of the big changes that have been happening in more context, astrologically as well as historically. Because we have to remember too, that we’re at the very end of Pluto’s long slog through Capricorn, and that definitely is representing sort of a dour tone and acceleration of things that have already been quite troubling in recent years. I don’t mean to step it back and say that there’s nothing to this combination of Mars Uranus in the North Node. I do think that it’s something we’re going to be able to understand a little bit more in the future as we look back and say, “Okay, was that a moment when things really began to change?” And I think it probably is. But today I really wanted to focus a little more on how to personalize this a little bit.
I said something in an email that I wrote to my mailing list about Mars and Uranus being a fairly combustible combination because Mars is kind of impatient and rash and Uranus says that unexpected things happen. So, having the two together is always a little bit dicey in terms of public safety in this kind of thing.
But, I think that having them together at the North Node of the Moon, if we consider the North Node (as I do) to be a fairly positive symbol and influence, I think that sometimes we really have to have a fire lit under us in order to move us in the direction of the positive growth that symbolized by the North Node. And it’s kind of a dichotomy in a way, when we think about the North Node in Taurus being a message of stabilizing and of obtaining security and of enjoying what we have in life and enjoying things as they are. Yes, Mars is what we would call a malefic planet, it usually can cause some problems and especially together with Uranus. But keeping in mind that the North Node is positive, and even all of this disruption that we see with Mars and Uranus – and to a greater extent, Uranus with the North Node – that, going through these necessary disruptions of Mars with Uranus, moves us toward a destination of hopefully feeling more stable and more secure.
Venus sextile Mars, Uranus, and the North Node (August 2)
On August 2nd, Venus will make sextiles to Mars, Uranus and the North Node, and this gives us another hint of something beneficial coming out of this conjunction of Mars, Uranus and the North Node. The day begins with Venus making a sextile aspect to the North Node just after midnight, 12:54 AM Pacific Time, then at 5:25 AM, Venus will sextile Uranus, and finally, Venus sextile’s Mars at 07:00 PM on 19°24’ Cancer and Taurus.
Venus, as we know is one of the beneficial planets, one of what we call the benefics, and it brings a nice influence into the conversation of Mars, Uranus in the North Node. Sextiles are opportunities or messages or invitations. I think Venus being in Cancer and making this series of sextiles to these planets in Taurus, is a very nice combination. Taurus can be a little bit stuck in its ways, and Cancer being a water sign and a cardinal sign, can sort of break the impasse a little bit, can get things flowing and moving instead of just a brick wall forming from Mars, Uranus in the North Node.
Venus can be about positive relationships that help you appreciate the new things coming in your life. It can bring a financial element, and this can be an offer of something that can make you more money like a different job, it can be an opportunity to do something on the side where you make a little bit of money.
And Venus’ sextile to Mars is especially beneficial for relationship. Anytime we have Venus and Mars coming together, we have the lovers, we have that element of relationship that is very physically oriented and it’s not just shaking hands and being friends, necessarily, I mean, it can’t be that as well. Even the Sabian symbol for Venus on this degree where it sextile Mars is 20 Cancer, “Gondoliers In Serenade.” And it’s such a romantic image. It’s coming together with Mars, which has then moved onto 19°24’ Taurus, off that “newly formed continent” degree and onto “Wind clouds and haste,” which Marc Edmund Jones described as ‘Wisps of clouds like wings are streaming across the sky’, which is a really beautiful image. So, having these two together says that part of the breakthrough, maybe that’s promised by this Mars, Uranus, North Node combination, is the ability to shake us out of whatever stagnant patterns have been preventing us from really having what we want, especially in the area of relationship, but also financially, and just generally in terms of the things we enjoy, the things that give us pleasure.
Mercury enters Virgo (August 3, 11:58 pm PDT)
On August 3rd, Mercury enters Virgo at 11:58 PM Pacific Time, just two minutes before midnight, so it’s really August 4th most every place else. Mercury will be in Virgo through August 24th. Mercury rules Virgo, and it also rules Gemini of course, and there are two dimensions of Mercury. One is that mental, intellectual version, which is represented by Gemini. And then, there is this physical expression that we see with Mercury in Virgo, where we work with our hands, we work making all of those Mercury ideas into something that is tangible and ideally something that’s useful, which is a word that Virgo really loves. This is the time when we take all of the ideas and inspirations that were collected when Mercury was in Gemini and then nourished with Mercury in Cancer, and then created into a new form while Mercury was in Leo. And now we analyze it, we edit it, we try to perfect it and give it a form that is more perfect.
Mercury, as it moves through Virgo for three weeks is one of the best times all year to go back and check your work. This has been a very creative Leo season already, and we have to be careful when Mercury goes into Virgo, not to interject editing and perfectionism too early into the creative process . Because the Sun is still in Leo, and it is still the season for creating, for accessing the parts of ourselves that are unique to us and then making something joyful from them. Mercury going into Virgo can tend a little bit towards stopping us in the middle of creating something and saying, “Oh, I don’t know. Are you sure you want to do it like that?” There is a time and a moment for that, but we just have to make sure that we’re walking that fine line between the unselfconscious creativity of Leo versus the Virgo part of us that wants to stop us on our tracks and make sure that we’re doing it the best we can. So maybe in your mind, setting apart a compartment where you get to put Mercury in Virgo and tell him yes, at the end of each day, if you like, I can sit down and make some notes in a journal or something like that and reflect on what I’ve done during the day and think about how I might perfect that process the next day. But during the whole day that I’m in my creative process, just Mercury in Virgo stay out of it, and let me do Leo’s job first!
Scorpio First Quarter Moon (Aug. 5, 2022, 4:07 am PDT)
And now for the Moon Report for the week of August 1st. It begins with a Scorpio First Quarter Moon at 13°01’ Scorpio on August 5th at 4:07 AM. This is my birthday, aAnd I am looking at having this in my Solar Return Chart for the entire year!. So, I’m hoping to see the very most positive motivation from this combination. I love the Sabian symbols connected with this First Quarter Moon. The Moon is at 14 Scorpio, “Telephone Lineman at Work”, and the Sun is at 14 Leo, “Cherub-like, a Human Soul Whispers Into Every Receptive Ear, Seeking To Manifest.”
I’ve probably talked about this one before, because this is the Sabian symbol for my nNatal Sun. And I’ve spoken, I think, about my favorite movie, “Wings of Desire”. The entire plot of the story is about an angel who decides he wants to become human. And the other part that resonates with the Sabian symbol is, you see the angels throughout the course of the story, leaning in and listening to what humans are thinking and sending a message in the other direction. And, the “Telephone Linesman At Work” takes me back to what is probably my favorite song, and it’s “Wichita Lineman” by the great Jimmy Webb, Sung by Glenn Campbell. I love this song. There’s something very melancholy and very romantic about it. So, having these two together at this First Quarter Moon is for me personally, really meaningful and really evocative of voices trying to connect.
Now, the Sun and the Moon are in a Grand Cross in this First Quarter Moon chart with Mars, Uranus, North Node, and with Saturn. We’ve spoken quite a lot about T-squares over the years on the podcast. I’m not sure we’ve talked a lot about a Grand Cross. A Grand Cross naturally occurs when you have at least one planet in each one of a particular modality of sign. In this case, it’s the fixed modality. The Sun is in Leo, which is fixed, the Moon in Scorpio, Saturn in Aquarius, and Mars, Uranus, and the North Node in Taurus, so these are all fixed signs. And what happens when you get a fixed Grand Cross is, if you picture a merry-go-round that is stuck and needs somebody to go in with some oil to get it moving again. Because with every one of the fixed signs involved, they’re all doing their best to hang onto what they’ve got, but they are in friction with each other, because they kind of want the same sort of things.
The way to loosen a Grand Cross, especially a fixed one, is to bring in some other harmonious elements from other planets. For instance, the Sun is trine Jupiter, and so it has this nice escape into the Jupiter realm of adventures, maybe a vacation, maybe a trip somewhere. The Moon is in Scorpio, and that is making a lovely trine aspect to Neptune and also to Venus. So we’ve got a Grand Trine among those three, as well as the Grand Cross with the fixed signs. A Grand Trine in water says that everything is just flowing really nicely. And that by itself isn’t necessarily always the best thing, because that has its own kind of stasis, where we really can’t get motivated to do anything, or we can’t handle difficulties that come up because we’re kind of not in a mode to deal with anything tough.
But having it in combination with this Grand Cross is actually quite nice, because it gives this Moon in Scorpio someplace nice to go when it’s feeling too much tension, feeling too stuck. It can go and enjoy Venus and Neptune, so maybe some music or some art or painting a room in your house or just hanging out with family members that you really love.
** Ad for April’s personal readings **
Hey there, invisible friend it’s April here. I sure hope you’re enjoying the podcast. I love bringing it to you each week, all of the breaking news of the sky happenings we all share. But how about the way it’s all playing out in your own birth chart? Sometimes you just want to talk with someone about it, right? Well, make that someone, me. Whether you’re having some really big things happening in your life right now, or you just want to get to know yourself a little better. You can book a 60- or 90-minute reading with me wherever you are in the world via the miracle of zoom. I can even record it for you, so you have an indelible record of our wonderful time together. Just follow the link to ‘Personal Readings’ at my website, bigskyastrology.com. That’s bigskyastrology.com. I look forward to speaking with you soon. Bye for now. ***
Void-of-Course Moon Periods
Let’s take a look at the void-of-course Moon periods for this week. The first is on August 1st when the Moon in Virgo makes a trine to Pluto at 3:29 PM Pacific Time, it’s then void-of-course for about five and a half hours before it enters Libra at 9:05 PM. The Moon in Virgo, this is usually a period each month where, much like that Mercury in Virgo, we’re wanting to tidy things up, organize things and make things more usable and more helpful. The Moon and Virgo both have to do with daily habits in the way we are living our life that either contributes to or detracts from our mental and physical health and wellbeing. The trine to Pluto, I think’s a pretty good sign that in the late afternoon into the evening of August 1st, this is a time to consolidate new habits that you’re trying to form and create. Maybe cook a dinner that is a little healthier than what you might normally prepare for yourself. It’s the Moon in Virgo and trine Pluto. It’s anything that will send a signal to yourself that what you have been thinking you need to change in your daily life, that you’re actually going to do something about it starting now.
Then on August 3rd, the Moon in Libra ends on a square to Pluto at 11:20 PM Pacific Time, and is void-of-course also for about five and a half hours. It enters Scorpio on August 4th at 4:47 AM. Now, the Moon square Pluto coming on the heels of the Moon trine Pluto a couple of days before, says you made some plans about some habits and routines that you want to change for the better, and you started to take actual steps in that direction, but now you’ve realized that there is something that you have overlooked. It’s kind of like you’re knitting something and you get quite a ways into it and then you realize there was a mistake and you have to go back and tear out what you’ve done and pick it up from there. So, that is a little bit of what the Moon square Pluto might feel like.
Then on August 6th, that Moon in Scorpio makes a sextile aspect to Pluto at 4:24 AM Pacific Time, it’s void-of-course for just about five and a quarter hours before it enters Sagittarius at 9:39 AM Pacific Time. So, the Moon is connecting with Pluto one more time to begin a void-of-course period, but it’s a friendlier aspect, it’s a sextile. And, I think with the trine on August 1st, what happens is you might tend to overlook things, and that’s why when the Moon squares Pluto, you had to sort of tear some stuff out and start over.
Well, with the sextile on August 6th, a sextile always says (that) we’re paying a little bit more attention than with a trine, but it’s not so fractious as a square, so, we’re probably a little more apt to catch any other mistakes we’re making along the way. This is a particularly good morning if you’re going to jump up on a Saturday morning and say, “Oh, this is the day I’m going to go for a walk or play tennis”, or whatever you’ve decided is going to be a good thing for you, especially for your emotional patterns, because this is a Moon in Scorpio and it’s connecting with Pluto, which wants to go deep. So, this is something that you’ve decided that if you can get into a new routine in this area of your life, you’re definitely going to be making a positive improvement. And then, once the Moon goes into Sagittarius at 9 39 AM, the mood lifts and feels a lot more positive for the rest of the weekend.
Venus trine Neptune (August 7, 9:43 am PDT)
Venus makes trine aspect to Neptune on August 7th at 9:43 AM Pacific Time. Venus is on that lovely Sabian symbol, 26 Cancer, “Contentment in Happiness And Luxury, People Reading On Davenports;” and Neptune, 26 Pisces is “A New Moon That Divides Its Influences,” which has also been stated as, “Aa New Moon reveals that it’s time for people to go ahead with their different projects.” I really love the combination of Venus trine Neptune, because it gives a heightened sensitivity and appreciation for the arts, for music in particular and colors and painting. Venus trine Neptune is exceptionally loving as well. And Venus in Cancer can really maybe sometimes go a little bit overboard with wanting to cosset and cuddle their loved ones. I think that symbol, “A New Moon That Divides Its Influences” reminds us here that real love – which is what we’re getting at with Venus trine Neptune, unconditional love, but also the pleasure we take in being with other people – that real love means letting your loved ones go their own way to dream their own dreams.
And don’t get too clutchy with Venus in Cancer, and I speak as a Venus in Cancer person myself, so I’m not beating up on Venus in Cancer, but realistically, once they love something or somebody, they want to hold onto it. And Neptune in Pisces, Pisces is the kind of sign that needs its space and will kind of run away if you try to clutch onto it too tightly. So this aspect, I think is a reminder: love people with all your heart, take pleasure in them, but don’t hold on too tight, don’t be too possessive or too jealous. Your relationships will only go stronger the more each of you lets the other go their own way and be their own person.
Mars square Saturn (Aug. 7, 2022, 12:57 pm PDT)
And on that same day, August 7th at 12:57 PM Pacific Time, Mars makes a square to Saturn. This can be an enormously frustrating aspect, I won’t lie, and especially in the fixed signs. It’s part of that configuration we talked about in the First Quarter Moon chart. Mars in Taurus wants its own way, is going to do things at its own pace, and Saturn can act like a boss who’s micromanaging you at work. And it’s saying, “No, don’t do it this way. Do it that way. Don’t do it this way. Do it that way” – that’s super frustrating. Mars does not appreciate it! And like I’ve said before, Mars in Taurus has a really long fuse, but it will only take so much.
So, we’ll need to rely on that Venus trine Neptune earlier in the day on August 7th to mellow us out a little bit, because this Mars-Saturn square can get us a little bit huffy. But there’s a really positive dimension to Mars square Saturn as well. It is an aspect that’s trying to train us to use our Mars more productively and putting up obstacles in your way to say, “Are you sure you want this? Are you sure you want it?” And Mars has to decide whether it’s worth doing the extra work, making the extra effort and using strategy rather than just losing its temper. If we’re able to train ourselves to think strategically, then Mars’s fire and impulsiveness can be channeled in a more productive direction and help us do good things, useful things, necessary things.
Listener Question: Prioritizing Transits
This week’s listener question comes from listener Jean who left the following message on SpeakPipe. “Hi, April, I have a question about transits and how best to deal with difficult transits. I’m wondering if we should avoid people and activities. For example, today I have the transiting Moon conjunct my Chiron at 0° Taurus in my 12th House. I also have Mars square my Natal Saturn, Mars opposite my Natal Uranus and Pluto square my Mercury. But, on the other hand I have some helpful transits right now, such as Mars trine Natal Moon, Mars sextile Natal Mars, Jupiter, trine Natal Saturn, Saturn trine my North Node and Saturn sextile my South Node. So, how do you interpret transits and how to use them when there are so many and they seem to conflict with each other? Thank you. I really enjoy your podcast.””
Oh my gosh, Jean, I can understand why you feel overwhelmed. Just listening to your list of aspects was making me anxious and was making my mind kind of peace-out for a bit, because it just felt like too much! And this is a really common question that I have from my students who work with me. I do offer individualized tutoring. I’ll put a link to that in the show notes, in case anybody’s interested in that. And I also run classes. And the biggest problem once people have gotten to the point where they recognize aspects and they know that the two planets are in dialogue with each other, but there are so dang many at any given time aspecting your birth char!. And it really can be hard to know what are the important ones? What do you need to look at? I suppose the first thing I would say is, I don’t actually look at my transits every day, that makes this process a lot easier to deal with. But here is the process that I recommend for prioritizing transits.
The first thing is to consider: Are you at an astrologically critical age? So if you are 29 years old, you are having your first Saturn Return. If you are 42 years old, you’re probably having some combination of Pluto square Pluto or Neptune square Neptune or Uranus opposed Uranus. So, there are certain ages at which we all have similar, big, important aspects from the transiting planets to our natal planets. So, that’s the first thing that I would really take under consideration.
Then, transiting planets, making a conjunction to the angles. Are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto making a conjunction with the 1st House cusp, the 4th, the 7th or the 10th, because they gain a lot of energy at that time.
Next, I would see if any of those big planets, Jupiter through Pluto are making a close major aspect to the Sun, the Moon, or the ascendent in your birth chart. We call those the Primal Triad, I think that’s Steven Forrest’s term for it. Because the Sun is about “Who am I learning to be?” The Moon is “What are the support systems I have in place to help me with that?” And the Ascendant is about how you are interacting with the world, how you’re presenting yourself. So, having one of these big planetary transits to one of these points is critical. And in the case of something like Pluto, it can take a couple of years to finish the aspect. Even with Saturn, it can be several months, so these are really important aspects. We’ll definitely be paying attention to those.
Then after that, we say, are these outer planets making an aspect to any of your planets other than the Sun and the Moon and the ascendant? And that’s where we have a category of Pluto square your Natal Mercury. Again, a long-range aspect, could take a couple of years. And during that time, you are deeply reviewing and revising the way you communicate.
Only after that, would I begin to look at something like Mars. Mars has a two-year cycle and when it is making a hard aspect to something, including its position in your birth chart, it means probably about a week to two weeks of feeling some kind of energy, anger or frustration around that planet or its issues. So yes, Mars is of the faster moving planets, the one that I would probably look at a little more than the others. But know that it’s a quick transit, it’s not going to be around impacting things for a very long time. If we are looking at anything that moves faster than that, the Sun, Moon, Mercury or Venus, that is yes, something that if you have an important day ahead of you, you have a job interview, you have an important reunion with an old friend, you have to make a difficult phone call.
You know, there are some days that are a little more important than others. And, if that day is a little more important, then those are what we call minor transits of the fast-moving planets take on a little extra importance, those are the days I might actually look at the Moon and say, “Well, the Moon’s in this sign, it favors this approach, and this is how I can make others feel more comfortable in my presence.” I might use that kind of strategy. If Mercury is going through a particular sign, I know people are kind of geared to hearing me better if I speak in the language of that sign, and Venus would tell me how to present myself in a way that has better chance of getting someone to like me, or to just respond well to me. So, unless it is an important day, it probably isn’t terribly helpful to be looking at the Sun through Venus in transits, and it’s probably not going to be terribly necessary even to look at Mars. You can get information from all of those, but unless they are repeating one of the messages of one of those bigger slower more important transits, like the Pluto with Mercury, it probably isn’t going to be very consequential.
I hope that that helps. It is a question actually, Jean, that I’m quite passionate about!
If you have a burning question about astrology that you’d like me to answer, leave a voicemail of one minute or less as Jean did at speakpipe.com/bigskyastrologypodcast or you can send me an email, april@bigskyastrology.com and be sure to put “Podcast Question” in the subject line.
Well, that is everything I have on my show sheet, so I’m going to wrap this one up. Thanks so much for listening to The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. If you like what you’re hearing, be sure to subscribe or follow the show in your app of choice. Ratings and reviews are always welcome, and I would love it if you’d help spread the word by telling a friend about the show. You can read show notes and full transcripts and leave your comments about each episode at bigskyastropod.com.
I want to thank everyone who has shown financial support for the podcast over the past year. Each week I’m thanking some of you by name. This week, let’s give a Big Sky Astrology Podcast shout out to Aneya Albert, Susan Hubbard, and Cathy Sullivan-Thompson!
April: AnEya, Susan and Kathy, thank you so much for listening to the podcast and for supporting the show with your donations. If you enjoy the show and you’d like to make a donation, please go to bigskyastropod.com and follow the link.
That is it for this episode. Join me again, bright and early next Monday. And until then, keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
© 2022 by April Elliott Kent
